I get it, the Houston Texans are having a bad year. It happens, but can we please stop acting like this some inept organization that has no idea what in the hell its doing? I don’t think I can take another seven weeks of it.

The easiest thing in the world to do is pour gasoline on a fire, and that’s what fans and many of my colleagues are doing. That’s fine. They’re allowed to do that, but I think a lot of it is way off base. Now, 2-7 is 2-7 so some criticism is certainly deserved, but its getting out of hand.

Let’s start with Ed Reed. After Sunday’s game I wrote that it was time for the Texans to move on from the former all-pro safety. On Tuesday they released him. It had to be done. He was of no use to them anywhere. His role was shrinking by the week, and he criticized the coaching staff after Sunday’s loss in Arizona. I think there’s a good chance he gets released even if he doesn’t take a shot at the team’s coaching, but that sealed it.

Reed should’ve kept his mouth shut. He got paid a lot to do very little. I don’t care how good he was in the past; in Houston he was an underachieving reserve safety. Those guys don’t get to take shots at their bosses to the media. Also, can we please stop acting like Reed is some sort of truth-telling martyr? He did just get demoted, and usually when that happens you tend to criticize the people who demoted you out of sheer bitterness.

Reed was a really bad signing and I think the move was spearheaded by Bob McNair, but I say that only because Rick Smith hasn’t been one to spend a lot on outside free agents. I can’t blame McNair for getting sucked in by the glitz and glamour of Ed Reed. He was a great player who had just won a Super Bowl, but maybe this disaster will keep him out of making football decisions, which is good because on balance, Smith has done an excellent job here.

He hasn’t been perfect, nobody is, but let’s remember, Smith inherited Andre Johnson, Chester Pitts and Dunta Robinson when he took over almost 7 years ago. That’s it, and while he’s taken some big swings and come up empty, he did build up a solid foundation that before this season had finished over .500 three of the last four seasons. Again, mistakes have been made, and this team’s talent level has taken a hit, but that’s what happens in the NFL. The good teams are set up to regress, and you also regress when key guys can’t stay on the field.

Arian Foster, Brian Cushing, Duane Brown, Jonathan Joseph. Those guys are either hurt now or have been hurt at some point this season. Those are important players, and I don’t care who your coaches you aren’t going to be as good without them as you would be with them.

People always want to blame somebody or something after losses. Why can’t we just say the other team was better? That is usually the case, but that narrative isn’t as fun, so its always the coach’s fault, right Ed Reed? This is when my favorite word gets thrown out: Adjustments!

They didn’t make an adjustment! Where were the adjustments!?! They got out adjusted!!

I love it when fans and media think they see something and the coaches don’t. Maybe they tried to make an adjustment, but the other team was better. Sometimes you just don’t have an answer for what another team is doing to you. The Texans are limited right now with what they can do, and teams are taking advantage.

The last point I want to get to is this lack of accountability argument people are making about this team, both with players and with coaches. It’s a ridiculous argument seeing as how they released three guys for breaking a team rule before the Kansas City game, and if it were as benign as those three players claimed, the Texans would’ve heard from the union about it, and they haven’t. Also, lets stop acting like Gary Kubiak doesn’t hold coaches accountable. He’s changed his defensive staff twice, and while you can make the Joe Marciano argument, let’s remember, if he’s changed defensive staffs twice while keeping Marciano, then the long-time special teams coach must be doing something right. Is it his fault that guys miss tackles in kick coverage or that the kicker misses field goals?

I get it. Randy Bullock is fat, and Randy Bullock has missed a lot of field goals this season, but the fact that he’s still on the roster doesn’t mean the team doesn’t hold players accountable. Maybe it means they like Bullock and don’t want to give up on him midway through his rookie season. The Texans invested a draft pick in the guy, they obviously think there is something there.

Listen, its been a bad year, and it probably won’t get any better, but can we please stop acting like its more than that? I know fans want in a time like this, but that’s being short-sighted. Don’t let the last seven weeks drown out what happened here the last two years. It will get better, just relax and take a deep breath.